Confirmation details

Supporting evidence: As we saw in Lesson 23 regarding the doctrine of the Trinity, English-language versions of the Bible employ various terms—derived primarily from Hebrew and Greek—to translate the word "God." In reality, according to the *DECEL* (*Diccionario Etimológico Castellano en Línea*), the term *God* originates from the Latin *deus* ("being of light"). While this term can refer to any "divinity"—even a pagan one—it is also used to designate our own Deity.(Trans.) Specifically, it is used to refer to God the Father, given that the "Son" had not yet been revealed to humanity. Later, when Jesus Christ appeared on the stage of history, his disciples—and subsequently the apostolic succession—maintained the belief that He was divine, based on His own declarations. This was officially defined at the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), where the concept of His "divinity" was deliberated and discussed; it was established that the Son was "divine"—of the same essence as the Father, or *consubstantial* with Him—based on the Greek concept of *ousía* (οὐσία). A similar definition was reached regarding the Holy Spirit at the Council of Constantinople (381 AD). According to the *Catholic Encyclopedia*, this framework is rooted in the view held by the apostolic succession: that the Son and the Holy Spirit are emanations from the Father, who serves as the sole source of Divinity from which they derive their being. Furthermore, this conception was supplemented by additional variations introduced by Origen—a Christian theologian of that era—which added a greater degree of complexity, as we explored in our study of the subject. Given this understanding—and considering that Jesus Christ, like the Father and the Holy Spirit, is regarded as a Divine Being—it is entirely logical to apply to Him the Latin term *Deus*, which, with the development of the English language underwent its formative process in the 5th century AD., evolved into the word *God*. Consequently, translators of English-language Bibles use the term *God* regardless of whether the reference is to the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. However, this has logically led to significant confusion among many believers, who may interpret it to mean a second God. Therefore, in my view as an expositor of these theological topics, it is more accurate—from an academic perspective—to refer to Jesus Christ as "Divine" rather than as "God," if only to avoid confusion among believers who are less familiar with these concepts of Christian theology. In reality, the term "God" refers to the Divinity itself, whereas Jesus Christ is not the Divinity (or Deity) in its entirety, but rather a Divine Being who is an integral part of it. This is why the Council of Nicaea, in addition to the concept of *ousía* (referring to the divine essence), established the concept of *hypostasis* (referring to a person or individual manifestation): a single *ousía* in three *hypostases*. In other words, it signifies the same divine essence of the Father, present also in the Son and in the Holy Spirit.